At first, they laughed about it. Then they went on Facebook to upload the ugliest selfies they could muster - scrunching up their faces and rolling their eyes to the camera. Sticking two virtual fingers up to their detractor, they tagged the photos with #uglygirlsclub.

It struck a chord.

Students across the world have picked up on the hashtag and the campaign is now almost 1,000 people strong. Selfies have been rolling in from as far afield as Australia. Other feminist societies in the UK have declared their solidarity with the cause, from Exeter (which has set up its own branch) to Oxbridge.

The campaign has now grown so big that the Royal Holloway girls have started a Facebook page andTwitter accountto offer people a public forum for their 'unattractive' selfies.

Oh, and they've officially changed their name to The Ugly Girls Club.

Selfies help you control your appearance

Molly Coulthard tweeted her #uglygirlsclub selfie

President of the society, 20-year-old Natasha Barrett, hopes more women will now reclaim the word 'ugly'.

“The aim of the campaign is to empower people to not just think of their worth in physical terms. The selfies were tongue-in-cheek to start with - but they carry a serious message, too,” she tells me.

“Your worth shouldn't be dictated by how well you fit conventional beauty standards.”

It may seem somewhat counter-intuitive to post unflattering photos of yourself as a way to build confidence. But 23-year-old H Beverley, the social secretary, tells me it's the perfect way to exert control over how the world views you.

“The selfie is a powerful message. People are getting to control their own image and present it to the world.”

Selfies have certainly been an effective campaign tool in the past – the phenomenal success of the #nomakeupselfie campaign, which raised over £8m for Cancer Research UK, is a case in point.

It’s not just for girls

Matt Small, a student at Oxford University, tweeted his solidarity

What's more, it’s not just women who are taking to social media in solidarity. Male students across the UK are also posting ugly selfies.

H hopes this might help to change the outdated view that feminists are all man-hating, bra-burning activists – an opinion that she says is rife among students at Royal Holloway.

“At the Fresher’s Fair, when we were trying to recruit new members, people came up to us and asked if we hated men. I can understand where they’re coming from – it’s just a common misconception about feminism – but it does get frustrating.”

Sexism on campus

H Beverley hopes the campaign will help boost people's confidence

As well as fielding such questions, the members of the society are used to being attacked over their looks. Although the bullies are usually too cowardly to insult them to their faces (indeed, one doubts the student who prompted the #uglygirlsclub is even aware of the effect his words had), they often hear comments through the student grapevine, or on Spotted: Sexism - a Facebook page set up to record sexism across campus at Royal Holloway.

And with students across the world joining the #uglygirlsclub campaign - not to mention consent classes and lectures of 'lad culture' - taking place in many UK universities, it's clear that sexism on campus is a widespread issue.

It's something the Royal Holloway society is ready to tackle, head on, helping all students to feel more comfortable in their own skin.

It's already working. Natasha confirms they have started receiving messages from other students.

“One student said that the campaign had given her a confidence boost and that she was never going to delete her 'unsatisfactory' selfies ever again. That's exactly the kind of response we want. Women have enough self-esteem problems as it is - if this campaign can go a little way to help combat that, then we're happy."

H added: “You don’t have to be perfect or beautiful to be valid or worthwhile - you’re worth being listened to regardless of what you look like.”